


Bad News

by samariumwriting



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Hopeful Ending, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Timeskip | War Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25223206
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samariumwriting/pseuds/samariumwriting
Summary: The war raging across the continent enters its fifth year. Marianne is not a part of it, but she waits each day with dread eating at her heart, fearing that the messengers will bring news of her former classmates.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9
Collections: samariumwriting's Invincible Zine Server fics





	Bad News

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this piece for the Invincible Zine Server's Marianne zine, which is a short, free zine with a bunch of works featuring her. Please consider checking it out!
> 
> This piece was born of wanting to reinterpret the common theory around Marianne not being present in war phase if she's unrecruited. I just want her to have good things <3

The day began normally enough. Marianne woke to the sound of birdsong and people bustling in the courtyard below her bedroom window. Mentally, she made a note of her mood; she felt okay— a little nervous, but she’d slept well. All good signs for how the day would go.

  
Quickly, she made her way down to the dining hall to eat breakfast with her adoptive father. As she ate, he explained her duties for the day: a handful of tax reports that needed to be read through and some goods to be signed off on after reading the attached contracts. After that, they lapsed into silence.

  
As they ate, a question formed in Marianne’s mind. “Has there- have you had any news of the war lately?” she asked. She usually tried not to listen out for each messenger, knowing it just made her more fearful of what the contents of the declaration could be.

  
“Yes,” her father replied. There was something tense to his voice that had Marianne’s breakfast turning to stone in her stomach. “Two days ago, there was a battle at Gronder Field. The messenger arrived in the middle of the night to tell me.”

  
The news wasn’t surprising. Marianne knew a battle was coming, at least in some form, but… “Did the messenger come with news of the outcome?” she asked. Her heart was beating faster, painfully so. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know.

  
“Many soldiers of the Alliance fell fighting both the Kingdom and Empire,” her father explained. “There were...many injuries on all sides, but no clear victor. The war rages on.”

  
“And…” Marianne hesitated over asking the question. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to know the fate of the only person who’d definitely been involved in that battle. “What about Clau- Duke Riegan?”

  
Her father sighed, and Marianne’s heart very nearly stopped. “There’s been nothing from him,” he said, his voice heavy and sad. Her father had never cared all that much for the young Duke, but she knew that everyone would miss him if he truly was gone. “There is no indication as to whether he’s alive or dead.”

  
It was all Marianne could do to hold back her tears. Carefully, methodically, she finished up her breakfast. “What will become of the Alliance?” she asked softly. With no Duke, with no heir to House Gloucester...who knew what could come crumbling down in the wake of that battle.

  
“I don’t know, Marianne,” he answered, and Marianne could hear the honesty in his voice. “I’m sorry. I wish I did.”

  
She nodded and resolved not to let it bother her too much. She went to begin her duties for the day, trying not to be put off by the heap of paper in front of her, but partway through the first contract her thoughts started to stray. She couldn’t stop thinking about the battle.

  
Without even thinking about it, her eyes constantly strayed towards the window, through which she could see the docks. People bustled about as normal, but she couldn’t help but hope… She was watching the seas beyond for any sign of a familiar face, or perhaps a white wyvern. There was no luck.

  
Eventually, she gave up on focusing on her work. There was nothing that could be done about it; she couldn’t stop thinking about all her friends from the Academy, and she needed to do something— anything— to put her mind at ease.

  
She wrote to Claude, and then Lysithea. She penned messages of goodwill to Hilda and Leonie. Asked after Raphael and his sister, and then Ignatz and his family. She didn’t write to the Gloucesters; Lorenz’s fate had already weighed on her mind enough lately.

  
Writing the letters, worrying after them all, Marianne felt awful. Somewhere in her heart, she couldn’t help but worry that it was their contact with her that had drawn them into this horrible war. Any of them could have died because of her, because of the curse of her Crest, and if she found she’d somehow condemned them all to die one after the other because of-

  
No. No. Marianne carefully struggled to bring her breathing under control. Her thoughts may be spiralling, but this was not her fault. She hadn’t seen most of her friends in person for years, and she’d yet to find any actual evidence that her presence hurt others.

  
She had nothing to do with the potential deaths of her friends. The cause of this war wasn’t her, but Edelgard. The blame for these deaths could never fall on her; she hadn’t raised a hand in violence since the Battle of Garreg Mach. She was not at fault for what had happened to those she once knew and loved.

  
So no matter how many replies she received, she would continue on. No matter how many of her friends turned out to be dead, she would persevere. She had to, for the sake of the people she was set to govern, the lands she would one day control. Marianne had a purpose in life, and for the sake of the dead she would improve the lives of the living. She had to.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for giving this a read! If you enjoyed (or didn't), please consider leaving a comment down below. I also have a twitter @samariumwriting where I talk about my work quite a bit :)


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